Initial Impressions 2.0 Blog #131: Finding Balance, Traffic Sandwich, Somewhere New, etc.

1. My life over the last few years has been a constant push and pull. I am always caught in between working as much and as hard as I can on creative projects, trying to build a better life, and stopping, relaxing, and trying to appreciate all that I do currently have. I feel as though if I work too much, the important things in life, like family, friends, and enjoying every moment I get on earth, will slip by. On the other hand, I feel as though if I stop and relax too much, the opportunities that are flowing around me like fish in a stream will also get away. This push-pull keeps me motivated and engaged, but it also can get exhausting. I feel like a few times a week I am stopping and asking myself in which direction I am leaning too much. As of this writing, I feel like I am leaning too far into the working side. As soon as I think that, though, I can picture the projects I want to work on or start to work on, and it pulls me back the other way. There has to be a happy medium. I want to find the balance between work and being present for those who truly matter. That is probably the true secret to happiness in life.


2. I wish burning calories was as easy as my Fitbit made it seem this week. Monday Runday was another fun one. 4 total miles on a perfect afternoon weather-wise. I track my runs using both my Fitbit and Map My Run, the running app I’ve been using since 2011. Most of the time, the numbers on both don’t match. Typically, my distance is less on the Fitbit because it tracks distance based on arm movement. If I run relaxed, I don’t swing my arms as much as I’d do when walking. Then again, my calorie burn is typically higher on the Fitbit because it tracks calories based on my heart rate, while the running app does not have that connection. That being said, the difference in calories burned between the two trackers is usually not that far off. This week it was insanity. Map My Run had me at 508 calories after running 4 miles. That’s a good, pretty accurate number. The Fitbit? It had me somehow burning 3,111 calories over the same distance. Yes, 6x as many calories. Obviously this was a glitch. I hope it’s not a sign of an issue with the Fitbit. If you were wondering, yes, I have burned over 3,000 calories in a single run. It was while running a marathon, a full 26.2 miles. During that, I burned over 3,500 calories. Like I said, I wish burning calories was as easy as running 4 miles, at a relatively easy pace, and instantly getting rid of over 3,000 calories.


3. You never know how something you do will affect others. This week I got a comment on Spotify for my podcast. It was from someone who said they found my GenX nostalgia podcast in the last month or so. They have been suffering through a bout of severe depression and said that my podcast is one of the bright spots in their lives. They said they look forward to it each week. It ended with them saying if I ever wonder if my show makes a difference, they wanted me to know that it matters a lot. Being someone who has battled their share of depression throughout my life, I know how important having something that makes you feel ‘normal’ is. I always joke on the show to lean into the things that make you happy, like favorite people, foods, and of course podcasts. I am humbled and grateful that my show actually does help someone feel like they’re escaping their depression even briefly. Things like that comment only strengthen my determination to keep creating the best content I can, whether it’s podcasts, blogs, videos, or books. Ironically, that comment brightened my mood in the way they said my podcast does for them. Of course, here’s the link if you want to listen to my show: In My Footsteps Podcast


4. Heavy rain and summer combine on Cape Cod to make a traffic sandwich. One day this week, a line of heavy thunderstorms rolled through the Cape in the late afternoon. Now, I could have probably looked at the traffic on Google Maps and decided to take a different route, but come on, then I wouldn’t have as much to write about. So I took a longer route that took me past a supermarket with a good selection in their deli. That right there was all it took to tempt me. The trip to the supermarket was fine. Only when I started home on the main road, Route 28, did I realize my error. It was bumper-to-bumper traffic as the skies opened up. A trip that typically takes me roughly 30 minutes took me closer to 55, with the majority of that being after I left the supermarket. Eventually I just had to throw my hands up and accept it. Luckily, I had a good podcast on, so it kept me from going crazy. At least I didn’t have any left-hand turns to try to make; I might still be stuck in traffic as you read this.



5. This week ended up being a huge boost to my confidence. I mentioned the really nice comment about my podcast. When I shared it on social media, I was blown away by the nice comments and messages. I had total strangers telling me that my content has helped them navigate hard times. I had people remark about my outlook on life in general, which I was thrilled to hear. It continued with my boss putting me over for my work as a trainer. The irony was that the only area he felt I needed work on was my confidence. This week is a great help. It concluded with what I will talk about next, but I will just say thank you to everyone who sent nice comments. Those messages make me feel that what I am doing and how I am living are how they should be.


6. The great week continued with a really fun author event at the Dennis Public Library. As per usual, I got there about 45 minutes early. I get there early to make sure that nothing goes wrong in my setup. It stems from an event many years ago at the Cotuit Library. For that event, I got stuck in summer traffic. This had me arriving at the event about 5 minutes before showtime. I walked in, and the room was full, which was great, but I felt it made me look unprofessional for showing up so close to the start. On top of that, once I got set up, there were issues with the projector and the show began late. For every event since that one, I make it a point to get there super early. The funny part is that I haven’t had any issues, so I just end up standing around waiting for people to show up.


7. As for the event itself, it was a great gathering. I enjoy speaking about Cape Cod history in connection to me being a 12th-generation Cape Codder. The sounds of reacting to each of the 12 different stories I shared never gets old. I could have done without one person who interjected themselves into the presentation a little too much, but it wasn’t malicious, so I let it slide. I did have to interrupt a bit to move the presentation along, though. It’s not lost on me that I was, and to a degree still am, an introvert. Being a public speaker and doing it confidently and comfortably is something I have worked at for years. I have another event coming up in the fall, but this was the last for the summer since I need to keep the rest of summer free for things to do with my upcoming film. Thank you to everyone who came out to my Dennis event; it was a lot of fun.



8. The biggest joy of that event was the family element. Not only did my mom and sister Ashley come out, but my cousins Dale and Richard did as well. This was very special. My mom and Dale hadn’t seen each other in close to 40 years since my mom and biological father got divorced in the early 1980s. Dale specifically asked if my mom would go to the event and to tell her because she would want to go. I am sure she and Richard would have come anyway, but my mom’s appearance made it a must-see event. This is where the final piece of my week of building confidence came to a conclusion. Doing a good show in front of family is one thing, but having Dale tell my mom that a big reason she came to the show was to be able to tell my mom face to face how proud she was to be related to me was almost overwhelming. Dale and Richard are my 2nd cousins on my father’s side. I don’t have relationships with many on that side of the family for various reasons. Having family from my paternal side be so supportive and kind and loving is even more important to me at this point in life when I don’t have, or want, a relationship with my biological father. My hope is that it is not a one-time thing and that my mom and Dale, and more of us in the family, can get together for gatherings going forward. If my author event is the conduit to that, then it truly was one of my best.


9. Going to a place I’ve never been to on Cape Cod is increasingly difficult. Sure, technically I could go to some random side road, but that’s not what I mean. This week I bit the bullet and went to check out the Cape Cod Rail Trail extension into Hyannis. This is the furthest western point of the famed bike path, which extends on the eastern end through Wellfleet. What makes it interesting is that it is part of a larger extension. There is probably 1.5 miles or so of new trail in Yarmouth that winds through woods behind Bayberry Hills golf course. It ends at Willow Street, which is a pretty busy road. Then directly across is another roughly 1.5-mile stretch of newly paved trail ending near Independence Park, the back way to the busy business section of Hyannis. The problem is that in the middle there will eventually be a bridge connecting the two sections, but that likely is quite a way away from being put in. I had to drive around to the other end of the trail on Mary Dunn Road. They are beginning to build a parking lot there, but of course it’s also likely to take ages to be finished. Luckily, there is literally one spot to park next to where the parking lot is being built. Since that section of road is really quiet, I knew it would be open, and it was. Having never left my car in that area, I just hoped that it would be there when I got back.


10. The run itself on the trail was sunny, warm, and very hilly. My friend Mike, of Monday Runday fame, told me it was hilly, but I needed to experience it. The trail hugged the highway on one side and the airport on the other, so there was a hum of activity. It was an interesting contrast with the fact that I saw absolutely no other people on the trail. Obviously nobody in their right mind is going to cross the busy Willow Street from the other side, and since I took the only parking spot at the other end, I shouldn’t have been surprised. One thing I found was that this Hyannis stretch of trail has little, if any, shade. Running up hills with no shade made me feel like I had taken a shower in my clothes. In total, it was 3 miles of new trail I ran. This meant that as of that run, I had been on every bit of every bike path on Cape Cod. Of course, 3 miles wasn’t enough for me. I extended my run by going down Mary Dunn Road, past where I parked, and to the backside of the airport. Despite waiting for a few minutes, no planes landed or took off. On the way back, I took a detour to Mary Dunn Pond, a spot I had never seen before. It was serene and filled with wildflowers. All in all, it was a perfect afternoon of new sights and exercise. Yes, I made sure to create a video to capture it and to share.



11. Where I live, there is a little puffball of a bunny that lives inside a bush that envelops the front light. I see it almost daily, especially near dusk when it sits near the bush eating clover and grass. Cute, right? Yes, but also there is a dark side. You see that little puffball is rightfully skittish around anything it perceives as a predator. That includes people. I have never tried to approach it or domesticate it. What the bunny does, though, is take off running when I get near. Most of the time this occurs while I am coming up the walkway to the front door. The bunny will be somewhere in the front bushes. I can’t see it, but it sees me. Rather than hiding and hoping I pass by, it invariably comes charging out of the bushes to get away. You can imagine my surprise when it’s a quiet evening, and suddenly this puffball comes dashing out and scaring the hell out of me. I have taken to jingling my car keys when I come up the walkway to flush it out before it can give me a heart attack. I can see it now: I drop dead in the yard, and I am found with that little bunny sitting on my chest eating grass like a hitman.


12. The past month, maybe 6 weeks, have seen me running more consistently than I have since I had a bad sprain of the left ankle last summer playing basketball. There was a time, especially over the winter, when I felt like running at all was going to be a thing of the past. About 2 months ago, a few things came up that started making positive changes. First was my boss, Dr. Mike, testing out that left ankle and recommending a strap to wear right below my left knee. This would help keep my lower leg stable. After that, one day I was sitting and thinking about the things I did when I was at my peak as a runner. What did I do then that I could bring back now? I started taking more than the recommended dosage of glucosamine, a supplement for joint health. It took a few weeks of the strap and glucosamine, but I started slowly adding running back into my workouts. In the past 2 weeks, I have consistently run 5 miles in under an hour. It’s nothing like what I did at my peak, but it’s slowly getting better each time. I liken this recent return to running to getting back together with an ex. Things feel familiar, but now you have learned the things you can and can’t do. Okay, maybe it’s not quite like that, but I am happy with how things have gone in the last several weeks.


13. While out for a run this week, I saw a guy ‘walking’ his two dogs. One was on a leash, and another was not. Already this guy can’t figure out if he wants to obey leash laws or be a selfish, entitled dog owner. The dog that was off-leash was barely the size of a football, and the one that was leashed was only slightly larger. My opinion is that if you have a dog you can fit in a shoebox or a purse, or could be plucked from the yard by a large bird, then you don’t have a real dog. A real dog should be able to protect you from intruders, not be stuffed into a microwave with room to spare.

Initial Impressions 2.0 Blog #122: Record Temperatures, Dogs In Golf Carts, Nice Parking, etc.

1. Well, that escalated quickly. We graduated from a typical Cape Cod spring, meaning low 50s with loads of clouds, fog, and drizzle. In a snap, it was record-high temperatures. We hit right around 80 degrees with low humidity and tons of sun. I had a great time going for a morning walk in the perfect weather. I enjoyed it so much that I created a short video of my walking route. Granted, the record highs didn’t last. We dropped to more normal, but still nice, temperatures in the low to mid 60s. It was perfect for mid to late May. Much like the first snow of the season, the first hot day of the season is fun, but as it becomes more common, it gets less appealing. To me, perfect weather is low humidity, partly cloudy, temperatures in the low to mid 70s. If I could bottle that, I would. Now it is the race to see how long it is until I have to put in my air conditioner. Last year, it was early, maybe the third week of June. I am hoping to hold off until after the 4th of July, as I typically do, but I can’t control the weather.


2. The sirens wailed as I walked to my car one morning this week. I was headed to work. I hear sirens almost daily, police and fire. I see the vehicles go by the house every so often. On this day, one fire truck flew by, then another. I had to wait as a third flew by. I wondered where they were headed. It didn’t take long to find out. After not even a minute of driving, I saw the huge plumes of black smoke billowing up from the trees. It wasn’t a forest fire, though. Near the end of the road I live on, I saw the fire trucks congregated. There it was. A shed, a boat that was probably 20-feet long, and a back fence were engulfed in flames. The next-door neighbor was dousing their side of the fence with a hose to try to hold off the fire. Cars slowed but didn’t stop. I wondered all day about the fate of that house. On the way home in the evening, I slowed down by that house. The fence looked like it survived. The shed had a massive hole in its roof. I saw the front half of the boat, but I don’t know if the back end was a loss. Thankfully, the house looked fine, and I can only assume all of the people were okay. Cheers to the Yarmouth Fire Department for getting there so fast and getting the fire out.


3. Aging is a weird thing. It’s like mentally I feel like I am still 18, but that was 30 years ago. Certain songs or foods can immediately bring my mind back to how I felt as a teenager. Even when I look in the mirror, I don’t feel like I have aged badly. Yes, I have more gray than I’d like, but I have a full head of hair. Between 40-53% of men in their 40s are going bald, or are bald. That jumps to 50-85% of men in their 50s. Granted, I could start going bald in 11 years and still be in my 50s, but I have good genes. Physically, though, is where the differences are piling up. It wasn’t when I turned 40 that things started changing. It was actually after turning 42 in 2019. I had a bad hip injury from running, and also battled Covid and lived through it like we all did. Those things all seemed to turn the tide in a way I haven’t been able to come back from. I do well for a few months and lose 10-15 pounds, but then my energy and willpower just get sapped, and I fall off. I think recognizing it is a benefit, though. Every new day, you can try again to get it right. Is that a stricter diet? Lowering my caffeine intake? Reducing my workload so I can go to the gym more? A little of all of them? I have no idea. All I know is that, going back to those good genes, I am likely going to be lucky enough to reach my 90s, as many in my family tree have. That means I have 40-something years left. I can either keep working hard and have more healthy years ahead. Or I can just give up and have decades of a downhill trend. The choice is mine.


4. The heat wave in May in New England broke in spectacular fashion. It was as hot as 88 degrees with a real feel of 101. I decided to make the most of it by going for a walk in the afternoon when I got out of work. I was on the bike trail. It was not as bad in the shade, not very humid. I saw in the sky the thunderclouds billowing above the trees. I knew it wasn’t long until the rains would arrive. I walked 3.5 miles, so it took me an hour. When I parked my car at the bike trail, my car’s thermometer read 84 degrees. When I got back an hour later, it was 74. Dropping 10 degrees in an hour is pretty wild. In fact, the longer I walked, the more I could actually feel the heat breaking. It took a couple of hours, but the heavy rain and a few thunderstorms arrived. It was the ultimate example of ‘if you don’t like the weather in New England, just wait 5 minutes.’ We went from a real feel of 101 one day to low temperatures dropping into the upper 40s the next night. It feels like it might be a wacky, unpredictable summer weather-wise.


5. I don’t know what to say. I guess wild animals trust me. That is my thought process after this week. I was out for a run when I was passing a golf course and noticed a pair of cute little chipmunks running and playing near an open gate. One was lagging behind, and I got the sense that it might end up coming around the corner of the gate when I was walking by. Instinctively, I grabbed my phone in the hopes of getting a photo of one of them. The curious chipmunk not only came out from the fence, but it literally walked right up and sniffed my sneakers. I was able to get a few seconds of video of this tiny chipmunk by my feet before it ran off with its friend. Now, couple this with the foxes last week that seemed all too comfortable with me hanging around. Then go back a couple of years to a little bunny that wandered out from the bushes at a beach and literally climbed on my shoe and tried to eat my laces. I’m not saying I can go sit under a tree, and birds are going to land on my shoulders like pets, but I’ve had more wild animals get close to me recently than I’d expect. Soon, I will have amassed an army of creatures. Too bad it’s all bunnies, chipmunks, and baby foxes.



6. One day each week, I either wait with my youngest niece, Sylvie, for the bus or go with her to get dropped off at school. I look forward to it every time. She is so sweet and kind and always looks to give me something of hers. I have been finding new ways to ‘forget’ and leave them behind. Usually, when she gets dropped off, I get out of the back of the van and move up front, so her mom doesn’t feel like she is a taxi driver. Sylvie has explained to me before how to close the sliding side door properly. You tug the handle once, and it automatically slides closed. As she was getting out, she did that, and I couldn’t stop the door. Only when there were a few inches to go did the door stop. Then it began setting off a beeping to warn you that the door was open. We had to drive to a parking spot so I could get the door closed once the automatic function was turned off. I laughed because I said Sylvie told me how to do it right, but obviously, I am old, and technology will now be my enemy, I guess.


7. My Fitbit has a few times it will buzz to let me know of achievements. They usually have to do with heart rate zones. It also buzzes when I hit 150 exercise minutes per week, or 10,000 steps in a day. Whenever I hit those milestones, it’s a good feeling that I am being active and healthy. The only problem is that Fitbit has a tendency to track steps using arm swinging motions as much as actual foot movement. This came through one day this week when I was sitting at my desk recording my podcast, and my Fitbit started buzzing. I looked and saw I had passed 10,000 steps. But how? I mean, I was pretty close to 10K anyway, so it wasn’t a major glitch like I magically got 10K steps while sitting. No, I think I was gesturing too demonstratively with my hands while recording, and the Fitbit took that as steps. Despite sitting still, I somehow kept adding steps. I guess now I know that if I’m close to 10K but don’t feel like going for a walk, and can just wiggle my arm a whole bunch and get there anyway.


8. I never know what interesting things I am going to see when out for a walk/run. At this point, there really isn’t anything that could shock me. For example, one day this week, I went walking to a little neighborhood located right on Bass River near me. It’s one of those semi-private neighborhoods, not quite gated, with a sign at the entrance with some fancy name to it. This neighborhood is very relaxed; the only vehicles driving through it tend to be those who live there. Those who do live there venture around the roads not in their cars or trucks, but many of them drive golf carts. It is pretty unique. I was walking through the neighborhood and saw a golf cart coming around a corner. It was driven by a girl who couldn’t have been more than eleven. Her passenger was an adorable golden retriever. Just a young girl, her dog, and a golf cart. I just smiled and thought it was par for the course as far as things I see on my walks. Yes, the pun was intended.

Like this, but even cuter

9. Sometimes the stereotype fits. I drove to the Three Sisters Lighthouses in Eastham. There is a small dirt parking lot that can only fit a handful of cars. I pull in. There is a car parked normally, and next to it, some jerk parked diagonally, taking up 2 spaces. When there are dozens of spots, and you park diagonally, you’re a jerk, but it’s not as egregious. When there are like 5 spots, and you do it, you’re an inconsiderate prick. I looked at the New York license plate. My first thought was ‘typical New Yorker.’ I know not all people from New York are pricks, but you do see a lot of them. This jackass wasn’t even at the lighthouses. I am pretty sure he parked there and walked the ¼ mile down to Nauset Light Beach so he wouldn’t have to pay. I got some photos and videos, and when walking back to my car, I saw this idiot and his equally stupid wife getting into the car. A guy had to wait for this moron to back out and leave before he could pull in. Of course, the smug jerk couldn’t even look at any of us watching him leave. It took all of my composure not to just yell at him. The person pulling in asked if I could believe that guy. Needing to vent my anger, I said the guy was a ‘f*cking prick.’ Then I saw his young son getting out of the truck. I quickly apologized for my language, but he was cool. We laughed, and I left. Moral of the story: Whether you’re from New York, Massachusetts, or anywhere, just don’t be a jerk. It’s really not that hard...for most people.


10. For 5 years, I had been running my Facebook business/fan page entirely dedicated to my podcast. I finally realized recently that I was selling myself short. I spend so much time creating that it’s basically a second full-time job. One that I get paid considerably less for currently, but I’m working on that. The fact that I was only promoting my podcast on that page when I also have books, blogs, videos, photos, and film projects, was definitely downplaying all of the hard work I do. This week, I chose to revamp that page from being only about my podcast to everything I do. Fittingly, I renamed it The World of Christopher Setterlund. My plan is to post several times a day there, featuring not only current things I’ve finished, but also shining a light on some of my archived projects. I have a tendency to finish something, share it a few times, and relegate it to a metaphorical box in the back of my closet. I need to promote older stuff much more. The fact that I literally have thousands of pieces of content in various forms that I can pull from means that my back catalog feels totally fresh again. This will be a fun new way to share all of my creative work.

Initial Impressions 2.0 Blog #107: Leap of Faith, Frozen Cape Cod, Watch Your Step, etc.

1. For the last few years, I have felt like I am caught in between two worlds. One step one way could get me to everything I’ve ever wanted out of life. One step the other way could leave me with nothing. Honestly, most of the time I don’t know which step is the correct one. I end up staying right in the middle as day after day goes by. It sounds a bit dramatic, and I am very lucky and blessed to be where I am in my life at this point in time. That being said, the fact that I spend nearly every waking moment of free time working on creative projects tells me that, despite being blessed, I am clearly not satisfied with where I am. The big problem for me is that there likely won’t be a sign pointing me in the right direction. It’s going to end up being a leap of faith, which is terrifying.


2. It’s interesting how one’s mind works. A few months ago, on a dating app, I had a cute girl show interest. I didn’t feel ready for anything, so I let that pass by. I know, why are you on a dating app if you aren’t ready? Again, funny how the mind works. So I regretted not reciprocating almost immediately, but she was gone. Fast forward to this week, and she has shown up again in my search. Here we are again, where I have the opportunity but am holding back. I don’t know if it is the fear of getting burned again. I don’t know if it is fear of losing independence. I think it’s me overthinking. I am hoping that I snap out of it, but the irony is that sometimes I think that the thought of a relationship is better than having a relationship.


3. The ice floes on Cape Cod Bay are simply surreal. After the full moon high tide, it seemed like the ocean completely disappeared and left only square miles of gigantic swaths of sea ice. Naturally, I had to be out in it to get some video since I don’t know when they will be this extreme again. The beach I chose in Dennis had the best ice floes. This included chasms and crevices that I could use my selfie stick to get some great perspective shots. Of course, better than lowering my phone down into a crevice was lowering myself into a crevice. I was in ice up to my neck. This was great for getting killer perspective shots. Then reality set in. Getting down there was easy. Getting out? Not so much. I spent a couple of minutes trying to claw my way out of my icy tomb with no luck. The only option for me was, unfortunately, going scorched earth on the ice. I just smashed and stomped the floes until I could climb out. Sorry nature. Hey, I got my photos first, though.

Inside my potential icy tomb.

4. At my work, we have had loads of icicles hanging everywhere. Each day, they seemed to just keep growing and multiplying like they were Gremlins. Sure as time passes though, we finally got temperatures above freezing, which meant it was time for the icicles to start coming down. Luckily, as far as I know, nobody in our building has been struck by falling ice. That’s not to say that there haven’t been any wacky events. I was in our gym leading a potential client through a movement screen. I had my music off, so the room was pretty quiet. Then, out of the blue, we hear a loud crash outside one of the windows. I figured it was icicles. Sure enough, I went over to the window and not only was it one icicle, it was probably 7, all attached into what looked like a set of fangs. These fang-cicles had come down in one clump. They didn’t hit the ground, though. Nope, they struck and got caught on a set of wires. No idea what these wires are for, but they are pretty damaged even though the icicles are not long gone. That’s why they’re the perfect weapon; they melt and leave behind no evidence. Not that I’m suggesting anything.


5. It’s an interesting concept when things start to happen that you’ve wanted to have happen. For so long on social media I’ve been sharing photos, videos, promoting my content I work so hard on. Sure, I’ve done all right, but I had always wondered what it would take to go viral and what would happen. This past week, I had a video of slush waves on Cape Cod go viral on IG and TikTok. Since then, it’s been a steady stream of videos getting thousands, or tens of thousands of views. I’ve added hundreds of new followers to the point where I had to share a video introducing myself to all of these new people. I open up IG or TikTok and feel a bit overwhelmed with all of the likes, comments, views, and followers. The thing is, one of my mantras for 2026, and I mentioned it last month in this blog, was to be open and ready for any good things that might come into my life. I’m not saying that social media clout is the end all be all, it’s not, but having legit hundreds of thousands of strangers enjoying your content is a pretty cool feeling. Maybe it leads nowhere, or maybe I get recommended to someone on social media who becomes the right set of eyes on my work that I am always hoping for.


6. So much of getting interesting photos or videos is being in the right place at the right time. For example, one afternoon this week, I went to shoot the sunset, naturally. I had one place in mind, but on the way pivoted and went to another spot. The place I went to had a beautiful view with a sheet of ice on the water. That wasn’t all. I did a bit of a walk and was able to get a cool video of a plane coming in to land at the nearby airport. As I followed the plane, I was able to immediately pan to the sunset in a great visual. To top it off, when walking back to my car, I noticed that the irrigation system at a summer home was on. It wasn’t a sprinkler, but more like a small geyser gurgling water from the ground. I stopped and waiting and got a great slow-motion video of that with the sunset in the background. All of that happened in 5 minutes. I think making that change of plans paid off.



7. I was down a rabbit hole of the funniest and weirdest dog names recently. I don’t know why, but giving dogs certain human names I find weird. Like a dog named Kevin, or John, or Mark would be weird. It got me thinking of the weirdest dog names I have come across in my actual life. There are two. One, my friend Barry told me about. He had a friend who named his dog ‘Dog.’ The thing was, he pronounced each letter so it sounded like it was ‘diogie,’ D.O.G. His reasoning? Why give a dog a real name if it won’t come when you call it? I guess that makes sense. The topper in my life though, is funny but also pretty mean. In my Nana’s neighborhood, probably 25 years ago, there was an old man who had a mid-sized dog. Its name? Stupid. Yes, he named his dog Stupid. My Nana would always laugh as she said, ‘Here comes Mr. Whoever and Stupid. I always laughed too, but also shook my head. Like, why even bother naming it at all? Just call it A$$hole or Sh!thead or something. Not with the symbols, the real words. I’m trying to at least be PG-13 in this blog.


8. The latest show I finished binging on Netflix is 11.22.63. This is the series based on the Stephen King novel about a man going back in time to try to stop the assassination of John F. Kennedy. It is 8 episodes, a total of about 9 hours of content. I highly recommend it. I love well-shot pieces of the not-so-distant past, and the 1960s fit that bill. I won’t spoil much, but the big plot point of the whole series is that the past doesn’t want to be changed, and if you start messing with it, the past will push back. It’s got drama, history, intrigue, love, and because it’s by Stephen King, some good bloody scenes. So there’s my quick pitch for why you should watch 11.22.63 if you haven’t already. As I said, highly recommended.

9. It’s important to be aware of your surroundings if you’re out taking photos of enormous swaths of sea ice on Cape Cod. I have been out nearly every day for the last week or so and have had a few incidents of a lapse in concentration. I have gone down on the ice a few times. Luckily, it was just flat ice near the shore, so just a bump or a bruise. The thing is, sometimes you have a near-miss that really gets your attention. The one for me was at Rock Harbor in Orleans. I was walking on a jetty, shooting a video of the ice that stretched out for thousands of feet. I was careful as I walked out so as not to slip and ruin my video, oh, and hurt myself, of course. When I got done and was standing at the end, I heard a woman talking to her two dogs. I turned to look and stepped down between two rocks on the jetty. Because I had been standing still, it was not a big deal; my foot went straight down, and I was able to brace myself with my hands and climb right back out. I realized after that if I had been moving, or even facing a slightly different direction, I could have easily gotten hurt. It could have been some bad gashes, or worse, a broken leg. So yeah, it’s important to be aware of your surroundings when you wander on ice sheets looking for cool photos.




10. This week’s blog, much like last week’s, is filled a lot with adventures in finding and filming Cape Cod’s ice chunks. Knowing that next week might see a bit of warming, and therefore some melting, I knew I had to get out and grab as much footage as possible. That meant braving wind chills in the low teens to get video at a frozen Sesuit Harbor and Cold Storage Beach, both in Dennis. I brought gloves and left them in my car. The videos and photos were spectacular, but my hands were numb. My buddy Steve went a short way back to the car while I took the long way to grab some more media. While on that walk, I managed to: see a dead bird in a pile of snow, slide on my ass down another pile of snow, become blinded by tears with the wind whipping in my eyes, and of course, the numb hands which made me drop and nearly break my selfie stick. I say all of that to again reiterate that it was all worth it, and the photos and videos prove it.




11. As the weekend approached, my lower back was feeling pretty bad. I mean, who knew that sliding, falling, and generally having poor footing on ice for close to two weeks would have consequences? All of the shooting of the ice floes that I did also meant walking in sneakers on snow and ice. I did my best to be smart and safe, but come on, my buddy Steve and I coined the ‘dedication to the craft’ motto about photography based on my falling on my hip and elbow on the rocks while trying to get a photo of Avery Point Light in Groton, Connecticut. I still got the shot. So it should come as no surprise that even with various aches, the call of photography was too much. I got copious use out of my heating pad and ibuprofen though, as I edited the photos.

Initial Impressions 2.0 Blog #87: Dumpster Transformer, Memory Full, Surreal Validation, etc.

1. Maybe I’m just getting old, but I’m not a fan of people who have Bluetooth headphones hooked up to their phone and then walk around loudly talking. It is one of the most obnoxious things possible. The only thing that makes these types of events worse is when the person talking loudly has a voice that makes your ears bleed. I heard this woman shouting in the aisles of a supermarket, having a conversation. Her voice was one of those nasally, ditsy, Valley Girl voices. Then I saw her and she looked like a Transformer but instead of being some kind of cool machine, she was a dirty old dumpster that also became a human. I couldn’t unsee, or unhear, that.


2. This week, I got an email reminder that my Audible subscription was renewing in a few days. That sounds like a mundane line until I tell you that I totally had no idea I was paying for an Audible subscription. I had likely been getting these payment reminders all along, but the one thing I wasn’t paying was attention. It turns out that what I thought was a free-tier membership, where I got 1 free credit toward an audiobook per month, was actually $14.95 per month. Oh, and it gets better, or worse for me, as this membership has been going on for nearly 2 years. You can do the math. I immediately canceled the membership so I’m in the clear now, but man, that was like a long, drawn-out setup for a joke that wasn’t funny. Oh well, at least I can keep the audiobooks that I got when I thought I was on a free tier. Wicked smart.


3. Getting older means things that were simple when you were younger can now turn into secret injuries. Several weeks ago, I was walking the beach at low tide with some friends. Not wanting to get my shoes wet, I jumped over a little inlet of water still flowing out. I cleared it and felt accomplished, but knew I’d landed a bit awkwardly on my left leg. Flash forward to this week and my hips and lower back were hurting. While getting adjusted by my boss, I mentioned an exercise I did this week that might have caused the pain. He said the issue was likely something from a little while back and we’d just reached the tipping point. That’s when it clicked. Jumping that little stream turned into me needing my left hip to get adjusted. The problem is my mind still thinks I’m 17, or 27, or 37. I feel like I need to forget everything I knew about fitness and diet, while we’re at it, and learn all new stuff. Or just buy clothes made of bubble wrap so I can safely navigate through life.


4. Speaking of getting older. There are times I feel like I have reached the tipping point with the amount of knowledge my brain can hold. I feel at times like a pitcher filling with water, and now any new info is just water flowing out of the pitcher into the sink. Where I notice it the most is at my training job. I have worked with enough different people there that I now can’t remember every detail about each client. This means equipment they might have at home, specific exercises that we have or haven’t done, things like that. On the other hand, I can still remember in great detail a lot of random music and pop culture items from the 1980s and 1990s. So maybe at this point in life, my brain is prioritizing certain knowledge and memories over others. Yes, that random nugget of wisdom about a random song in 1987 gets saved, but whether a client has an injury doesn’t. I’m kidding, by the way, I would remember injuries, just not my own, as seen in the last post.


5. I am used to there being some sort of ambient noise when I record my podcasts. When the weather is nice I have my window open, which is only a few feet from my desk, where I record. Countless vehicles are going by, and way too many large trucks for the road I live on. This week took the cake as far as noises I will need to edit out of the final product. There was a steady barrage of angry blue jays squawking at each other in the trees just outside. It got so bad that I had to mention it on the show in case people hear them, and I can’t edit them all out. The only way I got them to briefly stop was to find hawk calls on YouTube and play them out my window. Sadly, that only got them to go away for a few minutes before it was angry blue jay party time again. Foolish birds.

6. It’s a strange feeling that the Boston Red Sox are likely going to make the playoffs for the first time since 2021 but I really have no interest in it. In fact, this year feels like the least interest I’ve had in sports in general in my lifetime. I’m not sure why that is. It may be because I am always so busy with work that I just don’t have time to become invested in sports. With the Red Sox, I’ve been off the bandwagon with them ever since they traded Mookie Betts to the Dodgers after the 2019 season. The Bruins, I have no interest in, as I really don’t watch hockey. The Patriots have struggled since Tom Brady left, but I do keep my eyes on them from afar. I think the local team I’ve been most invested in over the last 5 years is the Celtics. Basketball was a sport I played growing up in school, so that makes sense. Part of it is that for nearly 20 years, New England had a string of champions, and now all of the teams are mediocre so I feel like I was spoiled for all of those years. It’s kind of like the 1990s all over again, except I’m way past high school age.


7. Provincetown is the only place on Cape Cod where, when I go there, I feel like a tourist. Maybe it’s because it’s an hour drive so I don’t get out there more than a few times a year? I was up there for a wedding this past weekend and took more photos of the scenery than of the event itself. I love my time in Ptown. It’s sort of like visiting Nantucket but without having to get on a boat. It’s interesting how I think of distance. Like I said, it’s an hour to drive to Provincetown, but I’m still on Cape Cod. In less than an hour in the other direction, I can drive to Plymouth, Bridgewater, Fall River, and nearly to Scituate and the Rhode Island border. Yet, all of those places feel so much farther away when I think about it.

Commercial Street, Provincetown

8. Speaking of that wedding, it was for the son of the Lady of the Dunes and his longtime girlfriend. It felt like the cherry on top, completing my story arc in a wild true crime story. The ceremony was at a church at one end of the narrow, busy Commercial Street, and the reception was at a resort hotel on the other end. Lucky for me, the hotel was right next to a parking lot. On a Saturday afternoon, even on the last weekend of summer, that lot was packed. I felt like I was going to end up having to park a few extra hundred yards away, which would mean I’d need to rush to walk to the reception, which was nearly a mile away. I still drove all the way to the end of the parking lot, which was next to the hotel. I was pleasantly surprised to find one open spot right on the road. It was as if I was meant to be there. Oh, and at the end of my time there, when I went to pay to leave, it turned out I had been parked for 2 hours and 56 minutes. Another 4 minutes would have cost me an extra $3. I guess you could say everything was coming up Milhouse, if you get that Simpsons reference.


9. Beyond the parking victory, the wedding was a validating yet surreal experience. I grew up with the mystery of the Lady of the Dunes. It was a story I knew well. If you had told me when I was young that someday the Lady would be identified, I’d have said that’s great, she and her family deserve the closure. If you had told me that I’d be involved in the case in a small way, I’d have said that sounds like it could be a possibility. If you would have told me that I’d be involved in the resolution of the case, her identity as Ruth Marie Terry, oh and that she had a son, oh and you will meet him, get to know him, he will invite you to his wedding, and tell you that your book about his mother’s case was very meaningful and important to the case’s resolution? (Catches breath) I’d have said it sounds like something I’d have written, but was highly unlikely. Yet there I was, sitting among family and friends, at a small, intimate wedding. It was in the front of my mind the entire time I was there, just how surreal and yet fulfilling and validating the experience was.

The church where the wedding ceremony was held.

10. The only downside to the wedding day in Provincetown was my Fitbit being skimpy on calories burned. I don’t know why but I thought that walking 4 miles throughout the afternoon would have earned me a few hundred extra calories burned for food. Nope, not a single one. I love my Fitbit Charge 6, but at times it feels inconsistent. It will register steps when I am sitting and moving my arm, yet its distance calculator will typically be less than what my running app will say if they are both going at once. It does a lot of calorie calculating based on heart rate. I figured I’d have gotten my heart rate up, especially when hustling a mile to get to the wedding ceremony. Oh well, even if the Fitbit didn’t give them to me, I know I burned enough calories to earn that pumpkin cake square. Yes, that was what I wanted to use the extra calories on.


11. For me, I don’t understand how in this day and age people walk on regular roads with their dogs off leash. I saw two on a walk this week. One got leashed once the owner saw me coming, which I appreciated. The other was actually off-leash while its owner was walking along with another dog that was leashed. I have no idea. When it comes to unleashed dogs, first off, you don’t know if someone is going to be driving poorly, and your dog could wander into the road and get hit. Secondly, there is the fact that your dog could get spooked, or just be a menace, and go running after a person, or someone on a bike. Unleashed dogs are every bit as dangerous as distracted drivers. They’re both unpredictable. I’ve had several experiences on bike trails on a run or ride, and some idiot has their dog unleashed, and it either jumps at me or wanders in front of me. I like dogs, I don’t love dogs. But of course, I’ve said it before in this blog, many dog owners are simply selfish and entitled, and believe your world revolves around their dog.

Initial Impressions 2.0 Blog #74: Injury Woes, Dirty Adventures, Bologna Drama, etc.

1. You’ll recall last week that I had a close encounter with a train. I had to scurry down a rocky embankment as it approached while I was on the tracks uploading a video I had just shot. It ended up being a fun video with the train passing almost right overhead but there was a price to pay. I aggravated my sprained left ankle, which is no good. I sprained it a week and a half ago playing basketball. It was pretty stiff and swollen. Now it is almost back at square one thanks to diving down the rocks. I had to pull out of a race I had signed up for. Luckily, they were understanding and refunded my money. Honestly, though, I have no clue when I will even try to run again. Walking is fine unless I do several miles and then it gets uncomfortable. Not sure if this ends my race comeback but I feel like I am going to be spending most of the summer working on strengthening my lower body and not running.

2. I will tell you something. I was out for a walk on the bike trail and stopped to use a porta-potty. I had to wait for someone to get finished inside. The guy who stepped out looked like a backpacking hippie from the 1960s. It was confirmed when I walked into the porta potty and the smell of B.O. was stronger than the literal crap inside. It was like the Seinfeld episode when the valet driver had such bad B.O. that it stayed in the car after he left. Not sure if the guy heard my gagging but I did try to make it loud enough to be heard.

3. In the grocery store, I passed a very short woman. I am by no means tall, so my calling her short should tell you that she was sub-5-foot. Anyway, she calls to me and asks me to get her a 2-liter bottle of Diet Coke off of the shelf. I grabbed one of the dozens there and handed it to her. The first thing she did was ask me to show her where it said that it was Diet Coke. Rather than ask her if she knew how to read I simply pointed to the large letters on the bottle. Satisfied that I had chosen the right product for her she turned and walked away. No thank you, no nothing. Fine. The next aisle over, we passed each other. I smiled at her. She, in return, scowled at me. Wait, what? I help you out, and you look at me like I kicked you in the back of the knee? Idiot.

4. This is the point in the year, late June, where it is a game of chicken between me and my air conditioner. This is where the weather jumps into the hot and humid stage. Granted it’s not every day, but once you feel 85 and high humidity, you don’t want to feel it again. I try to wait as long as I can to put the A/C in. Mainly, it’s because my apartment has two windows, and blocking one cuts off airflow. Also, there are plenty of days where it’s cooler and the A/C isn’t needed but I’m not going to take it out and put it back in repeatedly. That’s a recipe for a back injury. So here we are. Last year I held out until after the Fourth of July. How long will I go this year?

5. Going into my 3rd week of nursing a sprained ankle. I can walk pretty well but no running. Naturally, I saw a super cute yellow lab on the bike trail being walked the opposite way from me. This meant I needed to catch up so I could pet the dog. I ran a few hundred feet but the dog and owner turned off down a pathway. I didn’t want to chase them into the woods so I stopped. Of course a few hours later my ankle was sore and I didn’t even get to pet the dog. Double boo.

6. While out for a long 7-mile walk, I went down a section of the Cape Cod Rail Trail that goes through a golf course. I saw 4 early 20s preppy-looking guys driving by in a pair of carts. They look exactly how you’d expect them to look. I had to laugh to myself though, because I am pretty sure I burned more calories during my walk than all 4 of those guys combined during their golf game. Sorry for the hot take but I think golf is only a sport if you walk with your bag. If you drive a cart around, step out, swing a club, and drive again you’re not an athlete.

7. There is a new extension being constructed for the bike trail I mentioned, taking it from Yarmouth into neighboring Hyannis. It is only a few miles from where I live so I took it upon myself to check the extension out. It has been cleared of trees so I was able to start walking the dirt path. It was hot and dry so the dirt was kicking up. I ended up taking a shortcut that led me to mounds of dirt 30 feet tall. Too bad with my ankle I didn’t dare climb. Instead I went around the bottom of the dirt pile. There was no path, only thorns, loose sticks, and rocks. I shredded my left calf up pretty good. I made it to the point in the extension where a bridge will have to be built to carry riders over a particularly busy street. It was a fun summer adventure that brought back memories of my teenage years. Those feelings don’t come around too often anymore. Here is a short video of my adventure: https://youtube.com/shorts/h6gNbM4UWIc?feature=share

8. Late in the evening, I was listening to the birds outside. I always hear cardinals and blue jays. On this evening, I heard a bird making a squeaking call every few seconds. I thought it was weird. Blue jays make some sounds that are like a rusty swing set, so I figured it was just a blue jay. It took me way too long to figure out the squeak call was not a blue jay, or any bird at all. No, it was from my oscillating fan. Each time it got to a certain point, it squeaked. Wicked smart.

They sound the same, right?

9. Something I don’t think I’ve mentioned in this blog since its return in February 2024. As you know, I am dealing with a sprained ankle, which is really hindering what I can do physically. Back in 2011, I got back into running after not doing anything of the sort since middle school. In those early days of my running return I got injured frequently, probably as much as I did over the last several years as well. The difference is that now I work as a personal trainer, which means that any sort of ache or pain I take very seriously. If I injure a body part and I cannot demonstrate exercises then what good am I as a trainer? Back in 2011 I worked as a cook and didn’t care about pushing through injuries because as long as my arms worked, I could cook. The ultimate irony is the unequivocal fact that I was in better shape when I was cooking than I am as a trainer. It’s like if you work a certain job the last thing you want to do in your free time is that same job. I hated cooking at home when I was a cook. I’m not saying I hate going to the gym, but it just takes way more effort to get me out the door than it did 10 years ago.

10. I was sitting at the beach just enjoying a nice summer afternoon. A tow truck pulled up behind an SUV, probably 6 spots away. The driver began hooking the SUV up to be removed. I have no idea what the deal was with the vehicle. Anyway, some random fool drove by and yelled something at the tow truck driver who was just doing his job. The driver stopped what he was doing and climbed up onto the flatbed of the truck and lifted his arms like he was calling the other person back. Of course, the other person was a coward and just drove away. It’s like what are you mad that the guy was doing his job? Or did you have to turn slightly more to one side to avoid the tow truck? Phony outrage and phony tough guys are the worst. It was like social media was happening in real life in front of me.

11. Speaking of phony outrage. While in the deli section of a grocery store, an old man with a big white beard and a straw hat on was asking about getting some bologna sliced. The employee was explaining the differences between types of bologna and for some reason, this triggered this old man. He started yelling about how not all bologna is the same. To his credit, the employee stayed calm. When the old man said he didn’t know anything, the employee calmly shot back and said he must know something since he’d been working at the same place for 19 years. The angry old man walked away. Another customer made it a point to sympathize with the deli employee and said some things loud enough that the angry old man could hear. I stayed nearby for a few moments just in case there was a second act to the bologna drama.

Initial Impressions 2.0 Blog: #49 - Night Light, Oatmeal Magic, Gift Wrapping Woes, etc.

1. I was doing a bit of cleaning. More like collecting junk to throw away. I came upon a night light I probably hadn’t used in 10 years. I can’t remember why I got it unless I was afraid monsters would get me when I went to the bathroom at night. It had been sitting with a pile of stuff bound for the trash for days. I had second thoughts and figured there must be somewhere I could plug it in in case it was needed. So I plugged it in. I flipped the switch and the bulb immediately blew out. I don’t know what I was expecting after 10 years, but the night light is now officially in the trash.

2. From the ‘good problems’ department. I got a Christmas bonus this week from my job. My boss wrote out a check. Naturally, I wanted to go and cash it. If you don’t have an account at the bank the check is from you just present your driver’s license and sign the back and you’re good to go. The ‘good problem’ came from the fact that the check was for a pretty nice chunk of change. The woman who was helping me actually had me wait while she left and got on the phone. It turned out she was calling my boss to make sure he had written the check and that I wasn’t some thief trying to fleece him with a forgery. That’s the first time that’s ever happened.

3. A fun little game I like to play includes having my chat window open on Facebook. What I do is look at my friends online, typically 12 names fit without having to scroll down. I then imagine what a get-together including all of them would look like. I wonder what types of friend groups I’d have, whether family would get along, or having to introduce strangers to each other. Hey, it could be worse. I could do that same sort of game but have little dolls representing everyone and reenact scenes.

Getting ready to play Facebook Chat.

4. I waited until Christmas morning to wrap the gifts I had. There was one large gift and the rest were all smaller in size. I decided to wrap the smaller ones first since it would be quicker. Big mistake. While wrapping the big gift, one for my mother, I ran out of wrapping paper. I needed a solution rather than bringing the gift over half-wrapped. My brilliant idea was to use a few promotional posters I was given with one of my books. I put them blank side up and finished the wrapping job with them. Foolish, yes, but also resourceful.

5. Hilarity ensued on Christmas. It began with my sister Ashley’s dog Buddha barking nonstop at our aunt who he rarely sees. This went on for probably two hours. The true hilarity came when it was dinner time. Buddha who had been barking at her nonstop decided to be good and go beg for food from our aunt once he ran out of options with the rest of us. As you can see his hunger tops any stranger danger he might have. Hopefully, no white vans offer him candy on the streets.

6. As many of you know I have been sober for going on 4 ½ years. That fact became a superpower on Christmas Eve. As everyone at the party was getting various degrees of inebriated I was standing back and taking notes on some of the fun and foolish things being said and done. Obviously, they’re all my friends so there (likely) won’t be any blackmailing. Plus I’m staring down 50 in a few years I can’t go acting like a rowdy teen anymore, no matter how young I might appear.

7. I hadn’t been into Vitamin Shoppe in quite a while. In the days before COVID, I was in there a lot for supplements, etc for my own fitness. In the time since COVID, it’s been more of finding things in the supermarket or ordering online. That meant that when I went in and the young girl working asked if she could help me I had to actually ask for help rather than knowing what I was looking for. This could have been dangerous if she wanted to try to upsell me on the most expensive products. Luckily I got out of there with only a few things.

8. I have become a big fan of the Outdoor Boys YouTube channel. It’s a father in Alaska who does lots of cool survival camping sometimes with his three sons. They have nearly 12 million subscribers so a lot of others like them too. Perhaps the greatest thing I have learned from the Outdoor Boys is how good putting butter on oatmeal is. That has changed my world. If you haven’t tried it I highly recommend it. If you don’t like oatmeal just try it with loads of butter and cinnamon and sugar, maybe chocolate, or peanut butter. It’ll be just like candy, very healthy.

9. I’ve been on a kick of watching Larry Bird highlights. It makes me feel lucky that I grew up where I did and when I did as I got to watch him in his prime. An unintended side effect is my realization of how much I love the old 1980s sports uniforms, not just basketball. Maybe it’s just the old logos but I love the Mavericks and Cavaliers in basketball. The Padres, Expos, Astros, and Pirates in baseball. The Oilers, Buccaneers, and even the old Patriots uniforms in football. They all remind me of my childhood.

10. I’m a big fan of the hydromassage beds at Planet Fitness. It makes my Black Card membership worth it. Anyway, I was next in line for one of the 2 beds. They said a 5-minute wait. I sat down and waited and noticed a man leaving the hydro room. So I went in. For some reason, he had left before the 10-minute massage time was done. Rather than let that go to waste I jumped on and got 3 extra minutes. Then when that was finished the other bed, the one I was signed up for, was ready. So I got 10 minutes there. Before my time was done I saw the other bed was ready to go again. I figured this was for another member but when my 10 minutes was up nobody had come in or was in sight. I debated getting another round of hydro but figured that I’d jump on that bed and someone would show up and yell. So I just left.

Initial Impressions 2.0 Blog - #48: Christmas Tree, Old TV, Dolphin Noises, etc.

1. I finally got myself a little Christmas tree. How I got it was a process. I can’t fit a regular 6-foot where I live. Plus I don’t want all of the clean up so I wanted a small artificial one. Going out less than 2 weeks before Christmas to find a tree was a challenge. I ended up visiting several stores over a few hours. I was hell-bent on getting a tree that night so I ended up with a 3-foot artificial tree from Ocean State Job Lot. It’s small and thin but it fits exactly what I wanted. Think of it like Charlie Brown’s tree, except artificial.

2. I ordered copies of a Christmas card I made to give to family and some friends from Walgreens. Their website said they’d be ready in about two hours and I checked the box to get a text or email alert that they were ready. I went to the gym to kill time and then headed to Walgreens where my cards were ready. All good. The next day more than 24 hours after I placed my order I finally got the text from Walgreens telling me my cards were ready. I was tempted to go in and ask for them and play dumb but I decided to be a good boy.

3. I decided to get rid of my Nana’s old CRT television as I mentioned last week. It was still working and even had the remote. I left it by the road with a ‘free’ sign on it and figured it would be taken within hours. Wrong. I guess with flat-screen TVs being affordable nobody wants to lug a 50lb, 20-year-old CRT television home that they found on the side of the road. I gave it a few nights which consisted of me getting home from work after dark, hiding the television behind some bushes, wrapping it in a tarp and bungee cord, and then moving it back to the road before I left for work. In the end, I paid to take it to the dump, boooo.

This was basically what I was doing(AI)

4. For Christmas gifts I ordered a few gift cards from a local movie theater in the town of Chatham, Massachusetts. It’s about 20 minutes from me. Being lazy I had them mailed to me. The interesting thing is that when the cards *finally* arrived they had a postmark from Providence, Rhode Island. That’s nearly an hour and a half from me. It must just be protocol but seriously there’s no way to send something local in the mail without it going 5x as far away from me? Oh well, I can’t complain since they at least arrived before Christmas.

5. One of the funniest and most wholesome things I’ve seen in a while happened late in a shift at my day job. A man came in with his daughter who was probably about 4. She was super cute and not shy at all. As they were checking out he mentioned that one of her new favorite things to do was laugh like a dolphin. She then proceeded to make loud dolphin noises (think Flipper for those old enough). The sounds echoed off the walls and I had to walk away to laugh. I didn’t want to encourage her. The dad seemed a bit embarrassed but he never said anything to her because I don’t think he wanted her to feel bad which was really nice.

6. During a walk around the supermarket there was Christmas music playing and holiday decorations everywhere. It was a very fun and festive atmosphere. I had the biggest smile as I walked around and I figured a lot of people assumed I was enjoying the holiday season. I didn’t want to ruin the illusion but little did they know I was so happy because I found the horseradish sauce I wanted. It’s not as magical as the holidays but I’d be happy with it under my tree.

Yay, horseradish sauce!

7. We got the first snowfall of the season on Cape Cod. I’m not as big of a fan of snow as I was when I was a kid but the first snow is always fun. I grabbed my camera and headed out. I stopped at one particular spot in Dennis, the next town over. The photos and video were great but the roads got bad fast. Driving a Toyota Corolla means more than a little snow makes it a bad time. The last mile or so of my drive home saw me barely able to get to 20 mph as the roads were packed with slushy snow. My traction control light was on almost nonstop. As much as I loved the photos I was glad to get home in one piece.

8. My sister Ashley has a dog named Buddha. He’s a mix of a lot of things but looks mostly like a fluffier German shepherd. A fun fact is that he will not sit on any couch with her. In fact, he will get off the couch if she tries to sit with him. I say this because he goes out of his way to sit with me on the couch at my mom’s. This week not only did he lie down next to me but he fell asleep. To top it off he let me rest my arm on him like a big old rug. It shocked my mom and sister mostly because if she tried to sit next to him and pet him he’d walk away. She says it’s because he’s suspicious of her that she’s not petting him but checking for problems because she’s his parent.

9. A recent thing I’ve noticed on social media, more specifically Threads, is an influx of polite bots. They’re either bots or incredibly stupid people. I’d like to think bots. For example, I went and got a nice video of a church in the falling snow. There were wreaths, a manger scene, and a decorated Christmas tree under a gazebo. A comment on the video mentioned nice ‘traditional religious decorations.’ The kicker was when they asked if I had built them myself. Did I build the church and gazebo? Another one a few weeks back asked if I had built the boat I got a video of that had a small Christmas tree in it. Mind you I put a caption of where I was and what I was filming and the comments basically reworded my caption into question form. I’m hopeful these are bots because if it’s real people I mean wow stupid times a million.

Someone asked if I built all of this.

10. As Christmas draws near I am back to debating whether I should bother wrapping gifts or use bags. There was a time for a few years when I’d pile presents for the family into one big bag and hand them out because I just didn’t want to spend the time to wrap them. I guess I figure that the wrapping paper is wasted energy since very very rarely in my life have I ever heard someone rave about a gift wrapping job. That being said I do have my wrapping paper and tape ready so I guess I’ve answered my own question.

Initial Impressions 2.0 Blog: #41 - Cemetery Music, Foxy Meeting, Expired Foods, etc

1. I finally got around to taking my mini pumpkin out to get some cool, creepy photos and videos for Halloween. I went to an area just off the Cape Cod Rail Trail in Harwich. There is a cemetery that is good for running around as it’s a circular road. I was out at sunset walking through this cemetery looking for photos that spoke to me. I was way over at the far end of the cemetery after the sun went down. As it struck the top of the hour a nearby church started playing music for several minutes. It was a perfectly creepy and surreal moment as I had to walk through the cemetery as the light faded and this music played. I loved it.

2. I have seen foxes a lot living on Cape Cod. They are usually scampering through people's yards or wooded areas typically near dusk. Until this week I’d never seen a full-grown and healthy fox just standing in a beach parking lot. At first, I thought it was sick but it was a perfect specimen, like how you think a fox would look. I debated trying to approach it since it stood maybe 20 feet from my car for a good minute. Once I got done shooting a video though it ran off under a fence.

3. If you walk your dog, and it takes a dump, and you put this in a bag, but then leave the bag on the ground, you are a jerk. If I put my trash in a bag but leave the bag on the side of the road it counts as littering right? Why do these lazy selfish entitled dog owners think that putting their dog crap bags on the ground somehow counts as ‘cleaning up?’ Nobody forced you to get a dog, but you got one, learn how to be a functioning member of the human race.

4. Your reminder to always check expiration dates on the things you buy. I mentioned this in a blog post several months back well it rears its ugly head again. This time it was a 4-pack of ready-to-drink protein shakes. They were on sale (now I know why) and I figured why not save money and have breakfast ready for the next 4 days. If I had checked I’d have seen they were expired by a month. Unfortunately, I didn’t until getting ready to have one for breakfast. Needless to say, I had to skip breakfast that day or else risk whatever illness severely expired food could give me. These supermarkets really need to step it up when it comes to removing expired foods so that idiots like me don’t buy them because it’s on sale.

Do these look expired?

5. A surefire way to become my friend is by begging me several times on social media to take you on a photo trip with me. Not only did I have a strange woman essentially demand that I take her with me on a future trip, but this was the 2^nd time it’s happened. I could understand if you are my friend or even someone I’ve interacted with on social media a few times. For a total stranger to introduce herself by saying ‘you need to take me on a photo trip,’ there has to be a screw loose. No thanks, you can keep stalking my social accounts for now, unless a blocking is needed at some point.

6. My speaking events about my books are always fun. No matter the crowd size I do my best to make the event worth the while of those who come out to see me. Sometimes I end up with unique stories from these events. One I had this week was what I could only call an attempted entrapment. Speaking about my Searching For the Lady of the Dunes true crime novel I mentioned that my opinion about who was involved in the murder of the woman later found to be Ruth Marie Terry differed somewhat from what police say. Police say 1 man, her then-husband Guy Muldavin, killed her. I agree he was a part of it but that he probably had 1 or 2 accomplices. In my book, I mention a few potential accomplices but only 1^st names. A man at my event was hell-bent on getting me to give a definitive statement on who I thought was involved. Seeing as how a few potential accomplices are still alive I’d be a fool to point fingers. I might as well just beg to be sued at that point. Nice try guy, and he didn’t even buy a book so the hell with him.

7. Daylight Savings starts November 3^rd when we ‘fall back.’ On November 2^nd the sun rises at 7:15am. One day this week it was cloudy and rainy in the morning. Even though the sun had technically risen it still looked dark at 7:45am. It reminded me of the time when I took a bus from Las Vegas to Hyannis in 2001. We stopped in the small town of Ogallala, Nebraska. Inside the bus station looked like it was straight out of the 1950s. The fact that it was still dark at 8:15am made me start to think that maybe the bus had crashed and that we were all dead and Ogallala’s bus station was purgatory. My lasting memory of that small town was my Nana’s laughter every time she said the name. That was worth the Twilight Zone episode it felt like.

8. This year Halloween was a fun throwback. No, I didn’t go Trick or Treating, although if I wore a mask and pretended I had a sore throat and couldn’t talk I bet I could still pull it off. I always watch the original Halloween from 1978 with dinner. It’s been a tradition for probably close to 20 years This year I watched it at my mom’s house with my sister, nieces, and nephew which was a lot of fun. The actual Halloween scene was also a fun throwback. At first, there didn’t seem to be too many kids coming to get candy. My sister and my oldest niece were outside handing it out since it was 65 degrees at 6pm. As I was getting ready to leave and go home it was like every kid within a 2-mile radius flooded my mother’s street. It was such a great scene of kids everywhere yelling ‘trick or treat.’ I almost didn’t want to leave but I needed to get home to eat and find a different horror movie to watch.

Halloween was fun.

9. On Halloween morning, well before sunrise, I got my annual creepy photo/video shoot. I had to work early regardless so it wasn’t too out of my way to end up deep in a cemetery at 6:30am. With the sunrise close to 7:15 it was pitch black. I rolled about halfway deep into the cemetery and shot a creepy video of me with my mini pumpkin. It was odd yet perfectly normal for me around Halloween. I had to get to work otherwise I might have shot some more video out there. Don’t get me wrong it was definitely creepy but when it comes to interesting content like photos and videos my dedication to the craft sometimes takes over the normal part of my brain.

10. Birthdays in your 40’s are far different than when you’re a kid. Family and friends aren’t all readily available and without meticulous planning, you likely won’t get to see all of the people you want. That said, you have to try to make each birthday feel special, after all, it is a milestone of making it another year. For me, I filled my birthday this week with everything I liked. Foods I liked, visiting my mother, going for a secluded hike. These things are what I enjoy. No more super late nights of drinking. Low-key and fun is what I seek out in life in general. Here's to good things ahead in my 47th trip around the sun!